Red 40
PlainFoodSafe flags Red 40 as a synthetic dye. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 22,216 indexed US food products. A California (schools) restriction takes effect2027-12-31.
Source-backed answer
Red 40 appears in 22,216 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved (certified color).” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 22,216
- catalogued products
- #40
- usage rank of 248,027
- 2,542
- named brands represented
- 78%
- average depth down ingredient lists
Catalog prevalence comes from Open Food Facts ingredient lists. FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine labels are shown only when the source record contains them.
1/5 from FDA SAFFA + CSPI Chemical Cuisine
Where Red 40 sits among catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #40
- of 248,027 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 78%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 24,464 products listing it (mean slot 18.1). Red 40 usually falls near the end of the captured list; this position does not measure its amount because source formatting, compound ingredients and labeling exceptions vary.
Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 248,027 ingredients have at least one appearance and are ranked here. Usage and list position describe prevalence, not safety.
How common is Red 40 vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Red 40 highlighted.
How to use this page
Audit the co-occurring flags first
100% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Red 40 as the trigger. Open records such as 1 Wow!, Lollipop Bouquet; 1/2 Marble Grad Cake With Red Borders; 10 fl oz juice drink - strawberry kiwi and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 27.8/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 78% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 22197 of 22202 NOVA-tagged records. That describes the surrounding products, not the substance. For a useful comparison, hold category and processing level constant, then inspect which named component changes alongside the caution flag; otherwise the product mix will confound the ingredient question.
Next check: open the lowest-scoring linked formulation and locate the exact caution-marked component.
What else is usually in the same product as Red 40
Across the 22,216 products on this site that list Red 40, these flagged additives appear alongside it most often. The comparison column is how often each one appears across every product with a parsed ingredient list, so the two figures are measured over the same set. Blue 1 shows up about 13.7x more often with Red 40 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Red 40 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue 1 | 12,817 | 57.7% | 4.2% |
| Yellow 5 | 10,841 | 48.8% | 4.8% |
| Yellow 6 | 8,907 | 40.1% | 3.4% |
| Titanium Dioxide | 3,668 | 16.5% | 2.1% |
| Red 3 | 3,260 | 14.7% | 1.1% |
Co-occurrence describes what manufacturers formulate together. It is not a claim that these additives interact, and it carries no regulatory meaning. Counted over products with parsed ingredient lists; Open Food Facts, 2026-08-02.
Safety Concerns
Synthetic dye
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | Approved (certified color) | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Avoid | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 1/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 22,216 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Red 40
A sample of 16 of the 22,216 indexed products containing Red 40, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Red 40 safe to eat? ▼
Red 40 has a PlainFoodSafe ingredient-screening score of 1/5. CSPI rates it "Avoid." FDA SAFFA status: Approved (certified color). These labels are not a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific safety determination.
What products contain Red 40? ▼
Red 40 is found in 22,216 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Red 40 do in food? ▼
The current source record does not specify a technical effect for Red 40. Its product footprint is shown here without guessing why manufacturers use it.
Citation notes
Regulatory status from FDA SAFFA; safety ratings from CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence from Open Food Facts. See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFoodSafe.Every figure on PlainFoodSafe is rendered directly from OpenFoodFacts and FDA data, no number is typed in by an editor. Ingredient figures are computed directly from OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, and CSPI Chemical Cuisine data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
